What is Video Poker?
This page contains general information on video poker games and basic video poker strategy to use with them. We also compare video poker to slot machines and explain why video poker is more interesting and profitable.
Video poker is an electronic casino game generally based on five card draw poker. The target of the game is to get a high hand that is listed in the pay-table. The higher the hand, the higher is the payout designated for it.
There are many different variations of video poker but most of them work in the following manner:
- Five cards are dealt.
- The player selects the cards he wants to change and presses the button.
- The cards marked to draw are discarded and the player receives the same number of new cards.
- Commonly, all cards are marked to hold by default and the player presses buttons located under the cards he wants to change.
Slot Machines and Video Poker
Some people compare video poker to slot machines. The main similarity between these two casino games is the electronic format. Besides, you can compare the game of video poker to a five-reel slot machine where you are given two spins per game and can hold some of the reels after the first spin. However, from the tactical point of view, video poker is quite different from slots. The difference is the number of possible combinations. While slot machines usually pay out on combinations of several identical symbols in the same row, video poker is based on poker hands and therefore leaves space for a strategy.
Strategy:
Video poker strategy can be compared to Let It Ride strategy. In fact it is a five card draw strategy with the exception of knowing exactly what hand you need to beat in order to win. If after the initial deal, you hand already beats the minimum pay-out hand, you should hold all cards that form this hand and draw only kickers. Otherwise you should look for a possible hand you hope to complete and hold the cards that has to do with this hand. In games like Jack or Better where you need a pair of jacks or a higher hand to get paid, you should pay special attention to your high cards.
Example:
If you have three cards to a straight and one of them is a jack, keeping these three cards and drawing the other two you get a chance a double chance to complete the straight or to get a pair of jacks. If your three card straight consists of low cards, and your two kickers are high, you should consider holding high cards and drawing the low ones.